By Geveryl Robinson | Contributor
Many of us grew up with people assuming that all Black people at one point in their lives lived in “the projects.” Because racism and ignorance run rampant in our society, many still believe that most Black people grew up in poverty or were from “the hood.” Of course, we know better, but the funny thing is, based on what’s happening in our country right now, the name of the biggest housing project is called the United States of America. That’s right. Project 2025 has given being in “the projects” a whole new meaning, and whether those who voted in this administration like it or not, we’re all in the political projects now.
The over 900-page blueprint for authoritarian power circulating under the name Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise better known as Project 2025 is a full-blown declaration of war on civil rights, democratic norms, and hard-fought progress. It is the far-right’s plan to seize, reshape, and consolidate federal power, and it is well-funded and highly organized. If you don’t want to read the entire 900+ page document, there’s a Project 2025 Tracker that shows in real time how many policies there are, how many have been completed, and how many are in progress. It’s a sobering but necessary look at the state of our nation, what’s to come, and what’s already here.
And while everyone should be concerned, Black people have the most to lose because the plan is to rewind the clock to the pre-Civil Rights Movement. What’s happening in America right now is a direct attack on our lives, our families, and our future.
See, the elimination of DEI(diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs across federal and state agencies includes programs meant to ensure fair hiring, promote workplace equity, and address systemic racism. Our nation has not fully reckoned with its past, or its very present racial inequality, so eliminating these programs is devastating. Simply put, Project 2025 is white nationalism with a policy manual. However, because so many equate DEI with Black people only, they have no idea that these DEI policies prevent age discrimination and protects people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ community, veterans, and women….all women.
Federal agencies no longer must track racial disparities, and any attempt to redress inequality is treated as reverse discrimination. We’re already seeing the effects of these policies evidenced by the disproportionate number of Black women who have lost their jobs so far this year (300,000 and counting), and the Black unemployment rate at 7.5 %. Here’s a not so fun fact: high unemployment for Black people is an indicator of an economic downturn for the entire nation.
And don’t get me started on the Department of Justice. Listen, Project 2025 includes empowering the DOJ and law enforcement to aggressively target what it vaguely defines as “left-wing threats” and “domestic terrorism.” Given America’s history, guess who will be even more over-policed and over-incarcerated under that framework? #BlackPeople
Black activists, especially those who speak up about racial injustice, have always been surveilled. Under Project 2025, expect a revival of COINTELPRO tactics under new names. For those who aren’t familiar, COINTELPRO (short for Counterintelligence Program) was a series of primarily illegal operations conducted by the FBI against organizations it deemed radical. Protest will once again become a prosecutable offense, and federal protections for voting rights, policing reform, and civil liberties will vanish.
Medicaid, SNAP, housing programs, and student debt relief? All gone under Project 2025. Oh, and immigration? Make no mistake; Black immigrants and Black Americans aren’t safe either. Project 2025’s ruthless immigration policies, including ending birthright citizenship, mass deportations, and reintroducing family separation, aren’t just targeting the southern border. They hit Black immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa, too, and there is a disproportionate amount of abuse among the Black immigrants in custody. And since ICE’s motto is “Detain now, and ask questions later,” Black Americans are not exempt either. Don’t believe me? Well, just ask Philadelphia native, Peter Sean Brown.
We’ve already seen what the federal government has done and is doing to education. Project 2025 wants the federal government to take a backseat to local control of schools, while encouraging right-wing curricula and banning any “divisive concepts” including critical race theory, Black history, and discussions of slavery or systemic racism. There’s going to be an entire generation of kids growing up in schools without any concept of the true history of our nation and Black people’s pivotal role in it. However, as hard as they may try, our Black history written in blood cannot be erased by lies written in ink.
Besides, although the government may discriminate, Project 2025 is affecting everyone in one way or another, as many are now finding out. We’re all living under the project designed to control, silence, and degenerate. What’s happening now is about denigrating anyone who believes in democracy, dignity, diversity and uplifting kleptocracy, knavery, and kindless (yes, that’s a word) governing.
For those who may be wondering what to do, understand what we have always known: that when systems come for us, the only thing that has ever saved us is us. Our survival has never depended on the government doing the right thing, and it never will. Our survival has always depended on how we move together.
We must be unified in our resources, in community building, in how we spend our money, how we protect each other and ourselves, how we vote, and who we trust with power. We don’t all have to agree on everything because we never have, but we do have to recognize that since we’re all in Project 2025 now, we must start moving like our lives depend on it…because they do.
